GOP Went Ballistic When Obama Wanted To Do This; Now Trump Proposes It And They’re Totally Silent

Early Thursday morning in a completely unhinged rant, Donald Trump expressed his wish that he could send Sayfullo Saipov, the accused Uzbek terrorist who carried out an attack with a rented van in NYC the other day, to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He wanted to, but couldn’t, he said, because of how much longer it takes than going through the Federal court system.

Would love to send the NYC terrorist to Guantanamo but statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system…

Does any of that argument sound familiar to you? It should, because it’s exactly what Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, argued in advance of the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks 16 years ago. That case took place in 2009, a full eight years after the Bush administration failed to do anything at all about the men who perpetrated the most horrific attack on US soil ever carried out by terrorists.

But when Obama and Holder brought up the possibility that the mastermind and four other terrorists should — appropriately — be tried in America, the GOP was apoplectic.

Republicans at the time insisted that the men be tried in a military tribunal, rather than a civilian court. They made Eric Holder sit through hours of testimony and basically interrogations about why the Obama administration would do such a thing. The GOP accused them of treating these monsters “like common criminals” by giving them trials outside the military.

In the end, Republicans had to swallow their pride and watch silently as each of the men was convicted in Federal court.

Much like they’re silent now, as their Golden Boy wants to do the same thing, only he gets the benefit of the doubt.

Featured image via Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Written by Andrew Simpson

Andrew hates long walks on the beach, glitter, and men's rights activists. He can usually be found with his long-suffering wife, who can usually be found asking him to please not order onions on that burger, babe.